The Godfather II: Controlling the Don's Soldiers

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Lead your friends to glory against rival families.

By Jeff Haynes

Up to now, we've highlighted just about every single facet of The Godfather II. We've covered every way that a henchman could be upgraded and used to expand your empire, we've highlighted segments of the single-player campaign, and we've covered the multiplayer battles that you can use to grow your coffers. But thanks to the move from the original February street date to the beginning of April, the developers have taken the extra time to add a new multiplayer mode to the game – one that melds the strategy of the single-player with the hectic nature of the online arena. The new mode is called Don Control, and at a recent press event, I had a chance to lead my soldiers to victory.

Don Control initially starts out like any standard multiplayer match – you host a game and determine the maps, score limits and other standard match rules. However, the twist comes with the wager that you put up. As a don, you stake a certain amount of money, saying that you bet that your troops will win a match. The cash you put up front will come from your single-player earnings. You also establish the cut of the earnings that each soldier will earn from successfully bringing glory to your family. While it pays to be generous with the percentage you give your soldiers, as well as the amount you wager, you'll have to be cautious – any mistakes created by your troops could wind up losing the match, and emptying your wallet. Once you've decided on your stakes, you put it out onto the servers and see if another Don is willing to match your offer. Once someone steps up and takes the bait, players are able to join sides, and the game begins.

As a Don, you're not actually on the battlefield like your other soldiers. Instead, you have a top-down viewpoint of the entire map, which you can use to direct your troops towards their objectives. Aiding you in this task are a number of icons, which correspond to different camera views. By pulling the left trigger and hitting one of the face buttons, you can switch between cameras, which can help you observe what's happening on the field. It will also help you establish different waypoints so you can highlight things like fences that can be destroyed, gas tanks that can be set on fire and safes that can be cracked. By using the left bumper and highlighting an icon, you can choose a marker, and by hitting the right bumper, you can set them anywhere in the environment. Any placed markers are instantly updated on the radars of every soldier on your side, allowing you to constantly keep your troops abreast of changing conditions in the field, and whenever you communicate with your men, a puppeteer icon pops up on a secure channel so all of your men know that you're providing them with information.

You're not simply restricted to strategy and pointing out targets to your troops; Dons can also affect their world thanks to capture points. These nodes are scattered throughout the world and look like large cylindrical tubes with a circular area of effect. The more soldiers gather in that area to capture the node, the faster it gets converted to your side. This is important because you'll gain the ability to use the special powers of those nodes and bestow them on anyone within its area of effect. One of the powers lets you provide bulletproof vests for your troops so they can take additional damage before dying. A second power is the ability to instantly heal all damage that soldiers have taken in a mission. Creatively, this power has a side benefit in that troops that are already completely healthy gain a "second life," which instantly refills their health if they take enough damage to kill them. It's a definite surprise for enemy troops to blast someone, only to watch them instantly get back up from the killing blow and return the favor. Finally, Dons will also receive an explosive node power, which allows them to defend nodes they've already captured by detonating explosives at the control point. This is the only offensive power the Don has but is effective in clearing out rival troops.

With skilled maneuvers, your enemies will sleep with the fishes.

For players that have been looking for a larger challenge with their multiplayer, Don Control will definitely provide you with a test of your management skills. Not only do you have to keep everyone on your team informed as to what's happening on the battlefield, you also have to dole out vests and healing to your soldiers and direct troops to victory. Keeping all of these balls in the air with the speed of the multiplayer is tricky, but with some practice, even rusty micromanagers can evolve into effective online Dons.